Silent Hill

This is another movie that I loved that everyone else seemed to hate.  Part of that was because the movie deviated so far from the storyline of the game upon which is was based, but I think that's kind of silly.  I don't even care if movies based on books deviate a lot, as long as the resulting movie is a good one they can change whatever they want.  It's when they change a bunch of stuff and then the movie sucks that I get pissed.  I don't think this movie sucks.  It's a little weird and out there, and there's that long, 20 minute sequence when a character walks into a room filled with white light and all forward motion and action stops so a narrator can go back and explain what happened in the past that led to the current horrific situation (come on screenwriters, you couldn't come up with a better way of doing this than that?) but otherwise, this movie was enjoyable and has been every time I've watched it.

The story is about a little girl who is adopted by a man and his wife who love the girl like their own child even though they adopted her later in her life, when she was eight, and even though the little girl has a lot of problems.  she has terrible nightmares and sleepwalks in the night, putting herself in danger, and screaming of a place called "Silent Hill."  The mother decides to travel to this place(because if my kid had screaming nightmares of a place, the first thing I'd want to do is visit there) so she sets off with her daughter to find this town that isn't on any map for some reason.  She gets into a minor accident and her daughter runs off into the town, and once she gets there something isn't right.  Ashes swirl in the air and soot covers the town and something dark and evil is there, something that wants to kill everything it touches.

There are a lot of creepy evil things in this movie.  People have complained about the BAD CGI effects, but they don't bother me.  I think everything looks good enough that it doesn't take me out of the story like bad effects can sometimes do.  I like the acting, too.  Rhada Mitchell is great, and Jodelle Ferland is a great little actress with such expressive eyes and face that it's hard not to be mesmerized whenever she's onscreen.  Sean Bean is always good, and everyone else does great in their roles as well.  I like the story of how evil can corrupt even the most innocent souls, how the damned in hell might not accept their fate and might lie to themselves, how the desire for vengeance can poison a heart, how children often see their mothers as the ultimate expression of good and protection and love, and mostly how a mother can love a child even if the child isn't biologically hers.  I love it when Rose said "from the moment I saw her, I knew I was her mother." I just love most everything about this movie, and what I love makes up for whatever I might not like to make this movie worth watching again and again.